Prof Stephen Nutt, Lab Head | WEHI Researcher Profile

About

A functional immune system requires the coordinated activity of thousands of individual genes. We study transcription factors, regulatory proteins that act in the cell’s nucleus to control gene expression.

I completed my PhD at the University of Vienna Austria, where I identified a key role played by Pax5 in B cells. Following a post-doc at Cambridge University, I established a research program at WEHI focusing on immune cell differentiation. I am a Professor at the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Throughout my career I has been intrigued the regulatory logic used by immune cells in making decisions of cell fate and particularly how transcription factors program the response. We have deciphered how factors such as BLIMP1, PU.1 and IRFs control immune cell differentiation.

We currently focus on the programming of B-cell and plasma cell diversity, as well as efforts to develop new therapies for B-cell diseases including multiple myeloma. My lab is responsible for the B-cell work in the international ImmGen Consortium.

A parallel area of interest are the dendritic cell lineages. We aim to exploit our knowledge in this area to develop a new immunotherapy approach to treat cancer.

Education

Grants and funding

Awards

Fellowships

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Stephen Nutt

Ding Z, Hagan M, Yan F, Schroer NWY, Polmear J, Good-Jacobson KL, Dvorscek AR, Pitt C, O’Donnell K, Nutt SL, Zotos D, McKenzie C, Hill DL, Robinson MJ, Quast I, Koentgen F, Tarlinton DM. Ki67 deficiency impedes chromatin accessibility and BCR gene rearrangement. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2024;221(8):10.1084/jem.20232160

Saito Y, Harada A, Ushijima M, Tanaka K, Higuchi R, Baba A, Murakami D, Nutt SL, Nakagawa T, Ohkawa Y, Baba Y. Plasma cell differentiation is regulated by the expression of histone variant H3.3. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-49375-x

Jacquelot N, Xiong L, Cao WHJ, Huang Q, Yu H, Sayad A, Anttila CJA, Baldwin TM, Hickey PF, Amann-Zalcenstein D, Ohashi PS, Nutt SL, Belz GT, Seillet C. PD-1 regulates ILC3-driven intestinal immunity and homeostasis. Mucosal Immunology. 2024;17(3):10.1016/j.mucimm.2024.03.002

Audiger C, Laâbi Y, Nie J, Gibson L, Wilson-Annan J, Brook-Carter P, Kueh A, Harris AW, Naik S, Nutt SL, Strasser A, Adams JM, Bouillet P, Chopin M. Mis-expression of GATA6 re-programs cell fate during early hematopoiesis. Cell Reports. 2024;43(5):10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114159

Tellier J, Nutt SL. B cell trajectories influence cancer outcomes. Science. 2024;384(6695):10.1126/science.adp1865

Bergamasco MI, Ranathunga N, Abeysekera W, Li-Wai-Suen CSN, Garnham AL, Willis SN, McRae HM, Yang Y, D’Amico A, Di Rago L, Wilcox S, Nutt SL, Alexander WS, Smyth GK, Voss AK, Thomas T. The histone acetyltransferase KAT6B is required for hematopoietic stem cell development and function. Stem Cell Reports. 2024;19(4):10.1016/j.stemcr.2024.02.005

Higuchi R, Tanaka K, Saito Y, Murakami D, Nakagawa T, Nutt SL, Ohkawa Y, Baba Y. Type I interferon promotes the fate of Toll-like receptor 9–stimulated follicular B cells to plasma cell differentiation. PNAS Nexus. 2024;3(4):10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae152

Tellier J, Tarasova I, Nie J, Smillie CS, Fedele PL, Cao WHJ, Groom JR, Belz GT, Bhattacharya D, Smyth GK, Nutt SL. Unraveling the diversity and functions of tissue-resident plasma cells. Nature Immunology. 2024;25(2):10.1038/s41590-023-01712-w

Goh W, Sudholz H, Foroutan M, Scheer S, Pfefferle A, Delconte RB, Meng X, Shen Z, Hennessey R, Kong IY, Schuster IS, Andoniou CE, Davis MJ, Hediyeh-Zadeh S, Souza-Fonseca-Guimaraes F, Parish IA, Beavis P, Thiele D, Chopin M, Degli-Esposti MA, Cursons J, Kallies A, Rautela J, Nutt SL, Huntington ND. IKAROS and AIOLOS directly regulate AP-1 transcriptional complexes and are essential for NK cell development. Nature Immunology. 2024;25(2):10.1038/s41590-023-01718-4

Jackson JT, Ng AP, Nutt SL, Ikawa T, Wu L. Editorial: Transcription factors in immunological disease and haematological malignancies. Frontiers in Immunology. 2024;15:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1413841